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Who was Samuel Taylor Coleridge? Poet, Philosopher, and Critic. Date and Place of Birth: 21st October 1772, Ottery St. Mary, Devon, England. Family Background: Tenth and youngest child of the local vicar and his second wife. Education: Henry the Eighth Free Grammar School, Ottery St Mary. Christ's Hospital. Jesus College Cambridge (ran away to join the Dragoons under the alias of Silas Tomkyne Comberbache and had to be bought out by his brothers). Chronology: 1781: (6th October ) Death of his father. 1782: Goes to Christ's Hospital School in London and meets his lifelong friend Charles Lamb. 1791: Enters Jesus College, Cambridge. 1793: (2nd December) Enlists in the 15th Light Dragoons as Silas Tomkyn Comberbache. 1794: Returns to Cambridge after being bought out of the army by his disgusted brothers. (June) first meets Robert Southey and they plan a theory of Pantisocracy where all members of a community are given specific tasks. They plan to emigrate to North America and set up their group there. (July) His first poems are published in the London newspaper the "Morning Chronicle". Works on and publishes a play entitled "The Fall of Robespierre". (December) Leaves Cambridge without completing his degree and goes on a tour of Wales. 1795: To earn some money he delivers a series of lectures at Bristol on politics, history, religion and the slave trade. Probably sees William Wordsworth for the first time. Is introduced to the Fricker sisters by Southey who marries Edith. Coleridge moves to Clevedon in Somerset after his marriage to Sarah. 1796: (March to May) Produces the radical political and philosophical journal called "The Watchman". (16th April ) Publishes "Poems on Various Subjects". (19th September) Birth of his son Hartley. (31st December) Family move to a small cottage at Nether Stowey in Somerset. 1797: (5th June) First proper meeting with William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy. (July) Wordsworth and Lamb visit Coleridge in Nether Stowey but due to an accident with some scalding milk he cannot go out walking with them and this produces the poem "This Lime Tree Bower My Prison." (14th July) Wordsworth and his sister rent Alfoxden House nearby. (13th November) Begins writing "The Ancient Mariner". Taken on as a writer for the "Morning Post". (December) Some of his poetry is published in the "Morning Post". Finishes first section of "Christabel" and writes his play "Osorio". 1798: Gives sermons at the Unitarian Church in Shrewsbury as he is intent on taking up a life of religion, but receives a life annuity of £150 from Tom Wedgwood (son of Sir Josiah Wedgwood) to dedicate himself to poetry. Meets William Hazlitt for the first time. (February) Writes "Frost at Midnight". (March) Completes "The Ancient Mariner." (14th May) Son Berkeley is born (named after the famous Irish Philosopher George Berkeley). Writes "Kubla Khan" after awaking from an opium induced dream. (He needed to take opium in the commonly available liquid form laudanum for stomach and other pains). Famously the poem was not completed as he was disturbed at Ash Farm by "a person on business from Porlock". (18th September) Wordsworth and Coleridge finally publish their joint venture the "Lyrical Ballads". (Wordsworth was not happy to see "The Ancient Mariner" included). (19th September) He leaves for Germany on a study tour with the Wordsworths hoping to increase his knowledge of language and philosophy. 1799: (12th February) Studies at the University of Gottingen. (April) News reaches him from his good friend in Nether Stowey, Tom Poole, about the death of his son Berkeley (July) Returns to England. (October) Experiments with the effects of Nitrous Oxide (Laughing Gas) with Humphrey Davy in Bristol. (26th October) Meets Sara Hutchinson for the first time in the Lake District. (November) Begins writing political essays for the "Morning Post". Stays with the Godwins at 29 The Polygon, London. (December) The Wordsworths move to Dove Cottage, Grasmere in the Lake District. 1800: Begins translating Schillers "Wallenstein" whilst staying with Charles Lamb and his sister. (24th July) The Coleridge family all move to Greta Hall in Keswick. (14th September) Birth of his son Derwent. (September) Finishes "Christabel" (December) Has a prolonged illness including rheumatic fever and this may well be the time that he became addicted to the painkiller opium. 1801: New edition of the "Lyrical Ballads" with Wordsworth's Preface. 1802: Attends Humphrey Davy's lectures at the Royal Institution. (June) Publishes "Poems". (November) Tours Wales with Tom and Sally Wedgwood. Southey Family moves in to Greta Hall in Keswick with Sarah Coleridge (Southey's wife's sister). (23rd December) Daughter Sara is born. 1803: (August) Tours Scotland with the Wordsworths. 1804: (January) Ill once more in Grasmere and then returns to London. (July) Moves to Malta for the good of his health and becomes undersecretary to Alexander Ball, the British High Commissioner. 1805: (18th January) Appointed Acting Public Secretary in Malta. (21st September) Leaves Malta and tours Naples, Rome , Florence, Pisa and Leghorn. 1806: (17th August) Returns to England although still not in good health. Stays with the Godwins at 29 The Polygon, London. Delivers a series of lectures on Shakespeare at the Corporation Hall in Fetter Lane London. Lord Byron is in the audience as well as William Godwin and his young daughter Mary (later to become Mary Shelley. (November) Arrives back at Greta Hall. (December) Leaves to live with Wordsworth and his wife Mary (Also Dorothy and Mary's sister Sara Hutchinson) in Coleorton. 1807: (January) Hears Wordsworth read "The Prelude". (August) Meets Thomas de Quincey in Bristol. 1808: (January) Lives in the Courier Building in the Strand, London. Starts lecturing on poetry and the principles of taste at the Royal Institution. Ill again and goes to live with the Wordsworths at Allen Bank in Grasmere, Cumbria. 1809: (August) Produces "The Friend" a political and philosophical periodical. 1810: (March) Sarah Hutchinson (known to him as Asra) tells him she has never loved him. (October) He moves to London. and has a breach with the Wordsworths over a statement by Montague about Wordsworth's opinion of his work. 1811: "Table Talk" first written down by his nephew John Taylor Coleridge in London as he is known as a voracious and entertaining speaker. (November) Begins a series of lectures on Shakespeare and Milton at Scot's Corporation Hall for the London Philosophical Society. 1812: (February) His last visit to the Lake District. (April) Goes to live with the Morgans. (May) Begins a series of lectures on drama at Willis's Rooms, London. Charles Lamb helps heal the rift with Wordsworth. (October) Lectures on Shakespeare and education at Bristol and Milton in Clifton. His annuity from the Wedgwoods is reduced to £75. (November) Lectures on Belles Lettres, Shakespeare and education at the Surrey Institution. 1813: (23rd January) Beginning of the successful run of his play "Remorse" at Drury Lane, London. (October) Lectures in Bristol on Milton, Cervantes, taste, The French Revolution, Napoleon, etc. 1814: (May) Is looked after by Doctor Daniel for addiction and suicidal depression. (August) "Remorse" is performed in Bristol. (September) Publishes essays in the "Courier" newspaper. 1815: Moves with the Morgans to Calne in Wiltshire. (June) "Remorse" produced in Calne. (July) writes the "Biographia Literaria". 1816: (February) Receives grants from the Literary Fund and from Lord Byron. (16th April) Enters the house of Doctor James Gillman and his wife in Highgate who try to control his addiction. (November) Writes "Theory of Life." 1817: (April) "Remorse" is performed again in London. 1818: (January) Lectures in London on judgment, culture, european literature, etc. (December) Lectures on the history of philosophy, Shakespeare, Milton, Dante, Spenser and Cervantes. 1819: (11th April) Meets John Keats. Writes occasional articles for Blackwood's Magazine. 1822: Series of regular Thursday evening monologues begin. (November) Visited in Highgate by his wife and daughter. (29th December) His nephew H.N. Coleridge starts recording his "Table Talk". 1823: Begins "Youth and Age." 1824: Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for Literature. (June) Meets Thomas Carlyle. 1825: Lectures on Aechylus's "Prometheus" at the Royal Society of Literature. (May) Derwent Coleridge ordained as a clergyman. 1827: (May) Seriously ill. 1828: (April) Meets James Fennimore Cooper. (June) tours the Netherlands and the Rhineland with Wordsworth and his daughter Dora. 1829: (3rd September) Daughter Sara marries her cousin H.N. Coleridge. 1831: Visited by the philosopher John Stuart Mill. (September) Attends meetings of the British Association. 1833: (June) Visits Cambridge for the British Association meetings. (5th August) Visited by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Written Works: 1794: "The Fall of Robespierre" (with Southey). "Monody on the Death of Chatterton". 1796: "Poems on Various Subjects". started the political journal "The Watchman". 1797: Wrote "Osorio", which was staged in 1813 as "Remorse". "Christabel, Part 1". 1798: "Frost at Midnight". "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". (As part of Lyrical Ballads with Wordsworth) "Kubla Khan". "Fears in Solitude". "France: An Ode". "The Nightingale". 1800: "Poems - New Edition of Lyrical Ballads" with Wordsworth. 1803: "Lyrical Ballads" (Third Edition). 1812: "Omniana" (with Southey). 1813: "Remorse". 1816: "The Statesman's Manual". "A Lay Sermon". "Christabel". "Kubla Khan" and "The Pains of Sleep". 1817: "Biographia Literaria". "Sybilline Leaves". 1818: "A Treatise on Method". 1825: "Aids to Reflection". 1828: "Work Without Hope". 1830: "On the Constitution of the Church and State". "The Devil's Walk". (1835): "Specimens of Table Talk". (1836): "Literary Remains". (1840): "Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit". (1848): "Theory of Life". (1849): "Notes and Lectures and Some of the old dramatists". (1850): "Essays on his Own Times". (1894): "Anima Poetae". "Letters". Marriage: 4th October 1795 to Sarah Fricker at St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol. (The same church where the manuscript of Chatterton’s "Rowley" had been found. Sarah was the sister of Edith Fricker who became the wife of Coleridge’s Friend Robert Southey. Places of Interest: AVON: Bristol. CUMBRIA: Dove Cottage and Museum, Grasmere. (Wordsworth Trust). Greta Hall, Keswick. (Now a Guesthouse run by Jeronime Palmer - see their website for details) Coleridge lived here with Southey and Sarah Coleridge. DEVON: The Valley of the Rocks, Lynton, Devon. (Coleridge walked from Stowey along the Coast many times with Wordsworth and other friends. LONDON: National Portrait Gallery. SHROPSHIRE: Unitarian Church, Shrewsbury. SOMERSET: Ash Farm, near Porlock, (Private residence). Coleridge Cottage, 35 Lime Street, Nether Stowey, Near Bridgewater. (National Trust). Culbone Church, above Porlock. Porlock and Porlock Weir. Quantock Hills. (Coleridge walked amongst these hills frequently with William and Dorothy Wordsworth. Watchet. (Port said to be inspiration for "Rime of the Ancient Mariner"). Date and Place of Death: 25th July 1834, Highgate, London. Age at Death: 61. Site of Grave: Monument in the aisle of St. Michael’s Church, Highgate, London, England.